Adding Up the Billions in Tax Dollars Paid by Undocumented Immigrants

Often lost in political and policy debates about undocumented immigration is a simple yet crucial fact: undocumented immigrants pay taxes. Like everyone else in the United States, they pay sales taxes. They also pay property taxes--even if they rent. As a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) points out, ‘‘the best evidence suggests that at least 50 percent of undocumented immigrant households currently file income tax returns using Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs), and many who do not file income tax returns still have taxes deducted from their paychecks.’’ The end result is that undocumented immigrants are paying billions of dollars each year in taxes. Moreover, as several studies have found, undocumented immigrants would earn much more, and therefore pay much more in taxes, if they had some sort of legal status, be it permanent or temporary. Not surprisingly, permanent status yields more tax revenue than temporary status.

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